Performancing Blogosphere Roundup – May 26, 2010

If you’re a blogger on the go, you might know that WordPress is available for a number of mobile devices including iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry. SplashPress Media’s Darnell Clayton discusses the Blackberry edition at Blog Herald. I’ll be covering the iPhone and iPad versions in the future. (The simple summary is that the iPad-specific version of WordPress beats the iPhone version, and it’s great to be able to monitor a blog when I’m about and can’t carry my laptop around.)

Are you looking forward to the release of WordPress 3.0? It’s been delayed slightly to later this month or early June because of bugs, but the second beta release has been out since early May. I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet but Six Revisions has a guide to the new features. Amongst them are a new interface for installation, a new default theme with both header and background customization, a link shortener feature for better micro-blogging integration, a merge of the single site version of WordPress and WordPress MU (Multi-user), and tons more. On a related note, Drupal 7 is in the works, though no release date just yet.

While a non-Mac computer is just fine for blogging, I’ve made a MacBook Pro and an iPhone (and iPad) an important part of my multi-computer blogging setup. From May 25th until Sep 7, 2010, Apple is offering a freebie for qualified people within the educational market. Students (college and K12), faculty/ staff members, parents, and PTA/PTO executives might all be eligible to take advantage of Apple’s educational offer: buy a Mac and you’ll get a free 8 GB iPod Touch (basically an iPhone without the phone capability, just the WiFi). Note that this is a rebate offer. You do actually pay for the iPod Touch upfront but get credited within 90 days of making your claim. Please see their qualifications details.

Adapt or die. It’s a common refrain, and it applies to bloggers as well as online busineses. While newspapers are not online businesses per se, that’s the direction some traditional publishers are tending, but what they’re offering isn’t just digital content. A few are now selling SEO (Search Engine Optimization) services — an important aspect in building a strong web presence for a blog or website. For example, Gannett Newspapers, who are behind USA Today and other publications, are one of several publishers going in this direction, though they are targeting local markets individually. I guess in terms of adapting, it’s in an interesting approach, but who would associate newspapers with those sorts of skills? Search Engine Land has the details.